What is Scrubbing Accounts Payable?

Scrubbing accounts payable refers to the clean up of the vendor master file in a company’s accounting software. When scrubbing accounts payable, you are eliminating duplicate entries in the vendor master file, so that there are no duplicate records for the same supplier. It also means that you delete inactive suppliers from the file. It is useful to schedule an accounts payable scrubbing at least once a year, so that the vendor master file contains the most up-to-date information.

Advantages of Scrubbing Accounts Payable

There are several advantages to scrubbing accounts payable, which are as follows:

Minimizes duplicate records. By scrubbing accounts payable, you are reducing the risk of having different records for the same supplier, each with potentially different payment terms, addresses, and so forth.
Streamlines record keeping. Scrubbing accounts payable allows you to more easily organize your record keeping for each supplier.
Generates volume discounts. Scrubbing accounts payable centralizes purchases under fewer accounts, making it easier to demand volume discounts from suppliers (which would otherwise be dispersed across multiple vendor records).